


Just Give It Time

by Suchsmallhands



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Badass Remus, Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-Hogwarts, chooses not to cause he's mostly nice, could obviously break your neck, lupin cottage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23590507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suchsmallhands/pseuds/Suchsmallhands
Summary: Sirius spends a lot of time at the Lupin house, harassing his boyfriend and practicing patience. It's springtime, he's got a few days of freedom to kill, why not go romancing on the moor with his boy - guitar playing, tea sipping, casual tarot included.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	Just Give It Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a sweet little fluffy thing. 
> 
> Music referenced:  
> [Will Ye Go Lassie Go - Joan Baez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr9C_R2UM20)  
> [10,000 Miles - Joan Baez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhAkNrelNbU)  
> [Annie’s Song - John Denver](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RNOTF-znQyw)  
> Also just Queen's "In The Lap of The Gods" (not the ...revisited track but that one is good too). 
> 
> tumblr: @thisshipsailsitselff I have Aang as my icon, then you've found me.

Sirius was contorted in a crouch beside the bike, hair tied in a bun with a white shirt and cut off jeans on, carefully poking the something in that hunk of metal with his wand. Remus was lounging on a chair beside the backdoor of his parent’s house, reading a book and glancing up intermittently at him to appreciate the view. He’d only gotten prettier in his twenties. Somehow.

The breeze tugging the grass outside the Lupin cottage was light in the late spring sunshine, keeping them cool. The back door was open, letting the sweet air into the kitchen where Hope was making lunch. She was playing music from the record player which drifted outside to them, it was Joan Baez singing _Will Ye Go Lassie, Go._

Remus loved this song. Sirius had never heard it before he met the Lupins, and he now hummed it vaguely while he concentrated. Remus was reading the political history of Wales, which he’d already been over briefly, but he let it drop for a moment to give the ghost of a smile in his direction. Joan Baez had a gorgeous voice. Sirius didn’t have a singing voice to quite match the immortal beauty in his face, and neither to match her voice. But he could carry a tune.

“I _think_ she’ll be ready for a run in a bit!” Sirius chirped “What say you, Moony?”

“Can we keep it on the ground?” Remus grunted, looking back at his book.

“On the _ground,_ he says. I’ve a _flying motorcycle_ and he wants to take it for a ride on the streets. You know it’s definitely more dangerous to drive it on the street than in the air.”

“I like the backroads in the country.” Remus chuckled. He liked it when they stripped down them just a little faster than they should, and he could just sit with Sirius while the trees blurred past and the sun blinded them.

“Any thing for you, my darling.” Sirius raised from his crouch and stuck his wand through his hair, coming to lean over him where he lounged, bracing his hands on the arms of the chair. Stray wisps of shiny, raven hair fluttered before his face in the breeze. Remus didn’t stop the little quirk of his lips as his eyes deigned to give him attention, a glance up from the pages. “My love,” Sirius smiled and pecked his lips, demandingly. “My loveliest.”

He let his head tip back lazily so that Sirius could kiss his lips again and pepper down his cheek and jaw. Neither of them was sweet or lovely, at least not in full. Remus would never show it, not when professors gave him lower marks because they knew what he was, despite his impeccable academic work. Not when he wanted to curse someone or just tackle them, for testing his patience on a bad day. But he was as cruel as Sirius when he decided to allow it, at least he could decide whereas Sirius hardly noticed his own meanness. He couldn’t afford to be harsh on anyone but his friends, and they gave as a good as he gave.

But Sirius would still call him darling, dear, love, sweet. And he’d kiss him back gently because Sirius would search him for the reciprocity like a dog searches for praise. He’d always been willing to give it because of all the shallow praise and attention Sirius could receive from strangers, it was Remus he’d wait on.

Sirius was leaning over him, beginning to talk about his visit with baby Harry recently, and then he got into a tangent about James’ new home renovation which Sirius was helping him plan which led on into James’ feud with one of their coworkers which Sirius was enjoying.

Then Hope put on a 45 of _In The Lap of The Gods_ and Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, mouth open in admiration. _I live my life for you. Think all my thoughts with you and only you. Anything you ask I do._

“Why is your mum so _cool?”_ He straightened up to bounce into the kitchen and Remus grinned because it was so easy to win him over. Remus loved Queen as much as the next guy but his mum was coolest when she listened to Kate Bush or Jonie Mitchell and talked with him about politics or the past.

He followed after him, finger sandwiched between the book pages, setting the table while Sirius started loudly telling Hope how _cool_ she was. He listened as Sirius updated Hope on all the news from Effie and Fleamont Potter, who he still visited with the same frequency and familial comfort as James did. Sirius had once confided in Remus, _now the Potters are basically my parents, I’d adopt them if I could. But no one is as cool as your mum. Now I see where you get it._ Remus had been quite taken by that. He’d always had a terrible thought which he felt slightly guilty about, that Sirius found him cool because he turned into a creature of the night every month. But he’d so much rather it be shared traits with his mother – or father – than the wolf.

It was things like that which made him hop on the back of the bike or throw Sirius a bone just to see the delight on his face.

He smiled at him quietly from the table while stirring a cup of hot tea with a spoon, his tall handsome form chatting away as he helped Hope put lunch on the table.

-

In the evening Remus brought an over the shoulder bag with an extension charm on it, it was a battered and scuffed thing, out to the tree on the field some ways from the house. Sitting beneath it in the soft grass, they could still see the cottage like a dot nestled in the countryside. It was a sweet spring this month. The moors were most often some variation of cold and wet. In summertime it would be warm enough to wander the hills comfortably, but sometimes overcast and perhaps rainy once or twice a month. This week had been a wonderfully sunny and warm break.

Remus pointed at a herd of goats to the west just as he spread out a blanket beneath the tree. Sirius gasped and hardly contained himself at this and, before he could be dissuaded, he’d put on the dog and taken off to bark playfully at the herd. The herd must have assumed he was a sheep dog because they fled frantically.

He lay on the blanket and got out the paper to start circling ads in the prophet. The leaves of the tree overhead rustled and chattered in the steady breeze, waving in the sunlight which was blushing and fading through passing sparse clouds. Padfoot’s barking died down as he wandered the pastures somewhere out of sight.

He couldn’t hold down a steady job. He was hoping he’d find a safe place in the world. He didn’t dare say as much aloud. He hardly liked to hope for things that were obviously not reasonable. But some times he thought… perhaps an independent employer… someone who was open minded… But it was wishful thinking. That would be a matter of good luck. There was no way he hadn’t used all of it up by now.

His unemployment was embarrassing, and it exposed his obvious inability to prosper in the real world to his friends. He’d always anticipated this but he wasn’t sure what the other’s had expected. Whatever they’d expected or hoped, surely it was ashamed of this sad poor life.

He put it down and pulled a guitar out of the sack, playing along to Joan Baez, laying on his back with the guitar lain over his torso. He hummed along in a scratchy voice.

_Oh, ten thousand miles, it is so far to leave me here alone_

_Well, I may lie, lament, and cry_

_And you’ll not hear my mourn_

He was playing and murmuring along halfheartedly when he saw the black shape of the dog padding across the turf. His pink tongue hanging from his mouth, a smile on even with a fanged mouth. He smiled as Padfoot panted toward him and brushed against his legs before he flopped down and rolled on the blanket once. With a sneeze, he shook his head and turned back to human. He lay on his side next to Remus, a simply dreamy look his eye as he watched him finish the music.

Remus kept plucking away and hummed with a sweet smile on his face at his audience, though he kept his eyes on his fingers.

_The rivers never will run dry_

_For the rocks melt with the sun_

_I’ll never prove false to the boy I love_

_Till all these things be done_

“Oh, Remus.” Sirius sighed and clapped as Remus blushed a bit and grunted nonsense and set the guitar to the side. Sirius gained the space as soon as he’d set it aside and lay back again, draping himself along his side and propping on his chest. He nuzzled and kissed his face, pressing the lobe of his ear between his teeth. Remus tolerated the sweetness. He’d learned to be touched intimately by Sirius early on, though it sometimes surprised him. Even when they were just kids he’d always been tactile.

When Sirius lifted his head, he raised onto his elbow and looking down at him said simply, “move in with me.”

Remus exhaled and turned his face, “Pads.”

“Moony.” He smiled down at him, wryly.

Remus just looked at the grass beside their place, feeling his chest breathing over top his own, warm against him. He could feel his finger brushing through his hair.

“It’s not right for you to pay my way.” He murmured. “It’s no way to be together.”

“James is paying Lily’s way. She only works part time now.”

“Lily has given birth to a child.” Remus muttered drily, “Are we having a child, Sirius?”

“Not yet.” He mumbled with a grin aside. Remus gave him a pinched brow and wide eyed look. “I’ve thought about it.”

Remus decided to leave _that_ for later.

“I’m sure James would be a house husband if he could be.” Remus murmured light heartedly. As if he could ever divert Sirius’ focus.

“Don’t you want to keep me tied down.” He smirked. “If you don’t bed me enough, I may stray, you know!”

Remus looked at him and laughed, which Sirius tipped his head back and echoed. With a fading chuckle, he dragged a hand down his face and said, “Of course I want to live with you, Pads. If you’ll just keep hounding me I’ll give in.”

“Oh, don’t tell me that, darling, I’ll never stop if I know you can be convinced.” He huffed with a stupid smile in response. “We’ll find a way for you to make money. Something perfect. Just give it time.”

Things had been too good between them. Sirius had been coming round the Lupin house whenever he wasn’t working or at the Potter’s. Hope enjoyed his presence thoroughly; he’d charmed her wonderfully. (As someone with such a horrid mother, he was seemingly inclined to adore and admire his friends’. If Remus could go back in time and asphyxiate Walburga in the crib he would). Lyall was distant and quietly reserved as always, and they left him to it. Remus had been basking in all the time together.

Once, when Sirius had first met his parents, back when they were still in school, he asked him: _Don’t you feel angry at your father? For starting it with Greyback? For being so… for not taking good care of you after all of it?_ Remus had said no quickly. Of course not: _he was right to accuse Greyback. And he had reason to persecute werewolves – or at least, I mean he didn’t know better… And he just didn’t know what to do with me. And how could he, I… no one could know what to do with me._ Sirius had looked very darkly stubborn at that and said: _Then I’ll just be angry for you._

“I love to hear you sing, Moonshine.” Sirius smiled and brushed his lips against his skin thoughtlessly, “And watch your fingers… you have such excellent hands.” His breath brushed over his ear as he murmured into it. “They always look much better on me, though, I have to say.”

Remus’ heart beat hotly at those words. It was cheesy, it shouldn’t work on him. It did, though, leaving him fondly but indignantly stunted for a moment at the audacity in that lecherous mouth.

“You’re not going to seduce me here. Under a tree.” He tugged his head back with a hold on some of that dark hair.

“Oh, don’t be _proper.”_ Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Sing me a song.” Remus commanded, before he could get on with whatever inanity he was inevitably about to spring into. “I want to hear what you were practicing before.”

He wasn’t a guitarist, but he’d been playing with Remus’ when he was bored. He sat up and accepted the instrument passed to him, tucking his hair behind his ear and making chords experimentally with a pleasant little smile.

“Now, I learned this for your mother, because we had a dance to it once and she knows all the words. So I thought what song shall I learn, of course, this one! I’m renaming it _Hope’s Song_ because who’s this Annie, anyway.” Remus’ laughter bubbled under his breath as he folded his arms behind his head.

His playing was sometimes halting but mostly well put together, with simple strumming and a simple voice. But he sounded sweet and he brought a warm feeling to Remus.

_You fill up my senses like a night in a forest_

_Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain_

_Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean_

_You fill up my senses, come fill me again._

Sirius quirked a jaunty brow at him for the euphemism and made him laugh again. As he sang on, his face softened to a gentle contented sincerity. A lone grassland lark warbled overhead.

_Come let me love you, let me give me life to you_

_Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms_

_Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you_

_Come let me love you, come love me again._

_\--_

Night was fallen on the house. In the kitchen, the two sat at the little dining table. The house was quiet, and the kitchen was just the sound of their voices occasionally overlapping. Remus’ side of the table had a teacup and a magical cube that was charmed shut, providing a puzzle which he had been poking at. Now he was eating an after dinner snack. On Sirius’ side, tea on a saucer, some tarot cards, and _The Prophet._

“Hm.” Sirius murmured, “Scorpio is looking _lucky_ tonight.”

He looked up over the paper with a sly look. Remus chewed his food and gave him an indulgent, inviting nod.

“It tells me to expect a _heavy_ petting from a Pisces I’ve known for some time, tonight.” He smiled sharp, like a coyote. Remus scowled at him flatly.

“It doesn’t say that.” He returned to his food.

“It does. I’ll read it exact!” He followed the page with his index finger as if reading the words, “Sirius Black, enjoy being absolutely railed by your favorite Pisces.”

Remus held a very straight face, only pausing his chewing and closing his eyes before nodding and swallowing. “Well. Do enjoy that.”

Sirius gasped excitedly, “Really? Now?”

“Never.” Remus laughed when Sirius deflated comedically.

With a sigh, Sirius took a sip of tea and started fiddling with the cards. He shuffled them and pulled one to look at before putting it back and reshuffling, repeating this for some time. Remus was poking the cube now, absently chewing on some food when Sirius spoke up.

“What will it take to get Remus to fuck me over this table?” He asked quite pleasantly, drawing a card and tossing it on the table. It landed to reveal the Five of Wands. The wands were crossed like bars over the front of the figure of Remus. The little card Remus looked up at them through the wands flatly, much too sensible to put up with this question.

Sirius lifted his gaze from the card to see the real Remus giving him the same exact expression. He laughed.

“Oh, come on.” He lifted his cup of tea to take a sip, eyes laughing at him from the rim.

“I’m never going to fuck you on my mother’s dining table. Where she eats.”

“Well, don’t make it sound like a challenge.” He muttered primly, picking up his wand to tap against his teacup and warm it. Remus stood and picked up his dishes, carrying them to the sink, very muggleborn like, and washing them. When he turned around Sirius was staring at him while taking a sip. He paused as Sirius lowered the cup and gave him what could only be a predatory look. Twinkling with interest like a trickster god.

“Sometimes you look like you want to eat me.” Remus blurted out, leaned against the counter with his hands braced on the edge, jumper sleeves pushed to his elbows.

Sirius shook his head and sighed, “Do I ever.”

He sat his teacup in its saucer and picked it up to carry over to the sink, though his hungry eyes well read his intents. He stopped before Remus and leaned into him as he reached past and set the cup down behind him.

“I’m thinking of when we have our own table to fuck on.” Sirius murmured and reached up a hand to wrap fingers around his neck, high up, as if he were going to choke him.

“How domestic of you.” He murmured back, keeping his hands on the counter, though they squeezed tighter.

“Also, to make love on.” Sirius smirked. “Because I love you.”

Remus swallowed under his hand and stared at him, visibly in love to anyone who knew him. He finally rasped quietly, “I’m sure we’ll get there. Just give it time.”

Sirius roughly pressed their lips together, leaning into him and pressing his fingers into skin just a little tighter. He licked into his mouth, trying to drink from him. So he could be full. So he could be loved, and have somewhere to put his own. So he could feel close enough for once.

He loved that part of sex. When they were just about to come, as close to each other as they could get, when he felt held and sure of it. When he didn’t need reassuring anymore.

His kisses softened and he let his body fall down loose into the shape of him, gentle and pliable. Remus lifted a hand from the counter and let it wrap around his back, arm around him and fingers on his waist. It was just a hand, practical and simple in its affection, but it rent a sigh out of him like he’d been crushed in his palm.

Sirius lifted his own hand to lay on his shoulder. The hand on his throat shifting to brush against the ends of his hair. He’d let Remus have whatever he wanted right now. He always knew how to take a lead and let Sirius take a back seat, while keeping the door open at all times for him to back out. And Sirius loved him for knowing him well enough. For always waiting for him to come sit in his lap before taking his lead.

Well, he just loved him in general.

“Want to go to my room?” Remus asked, pushing off from the counter a bit.

“Since you won’t give me the table, I suppose so.” He said very reasonably, twining his fingers with his hand and swinging them playfully as they took the stairs and shut the door to the room, casting silencing charms strong enough to silence a wolf’s howl. 


End file.
